Crate.



, PATENTED APR. so, 1907. T. e. WILSON.

CRATE.

APPLIQATION FILED JULY 17, 1905.

v 1 W 1 K THOMAS G. WILSON, OF LOS 'ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

CRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 30, 1907.

Application filed July 17,1905- Serial No. 269,961.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS G. WILSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented a new and useful Crate, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a folding crate or box, for example, a dog crate, or a box, which, when not in use may be folded into compact form, and which when opened out for use is adapted to hold practically anything for which a box is suited.

The object of the present invention is to provide a crate or box which is adapted to be folded into the smallest possible compass, and which when opened is rigidly held in such condition and prevented from acciden tally collapsing.

Another object is to provide a box or crate of the character described which is strong, durable in use and of inexpensive and simple construction.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention, and referring thereto Figure 1 is a perspective view of the preferred form of a crate in condition for use, the top being closed. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the crate with the cover open, dotted lines indicating the manner in which half of one end may be opened like a door or the whole of that end may be opened like a door. Fig. 3 is a perspective view, showing in detail the construction at the corner of the crate where the edge of the door-like end of the crate detachably joins the back of the crate. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a corner of the crate, showing the manner of hinging the door-like end of the crate to the front bars of the crate. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing the tie bar and adjacent portions of the crate.

The crate comprises a bottom 1, a top 2, ends 3 and 4, front 5, and back 6. The top 2 is provided with eyes 7 which are joined with similar eyes 8 on the upper edge of the back 6, the edge of the top 2 and the edge of the back 6 having concave notches 9 to permit of the necessary swinging action of the top 2, the size of the top 2 being such that it fits within the front and back, shown in Fig. 1, and may be swung inside the crate and folded flat against the inside of back 6, or it may be swung outside the crate and folded flat against the outside of the back 6. The front edge of the top 2 is detachablyfastened to the front 5 by hasps 10 which engage eyes 1 1 on the front 5, and the hasps 10 may be freed from the eyes 11 when desired to allow the top 2 to be folded down inside the crate, or to be swung up outside the crate.

The bottom 1 is hinged to the lower edge of the front 5 by interlocked eyes 7 and S in a manner similar to the hinging of the top 2, and the rear edge of the bottom 1. is detachably fastened to the back 6 by hasps 12, which permit the bottom 1 to be folded up inside the crate flat against the front 5, or to be swung down and around outside the crate and folded up flat against the outer face of the front 5.

The ends of the crate comprise sections a. and b hinged together by butts 13 which are similar to ordinary butts except that instead of having independent pintles a single long rod 1% is employed which serves as a common pintle for both butts, and the rod 1 1 is extended above and below the butts, its upper end having, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, a fork 15 which is adapted to receive the edge of the top 2, the upper tine of the fork 15 being detachably engaged by a spring latch 16. The lower end of the pintle 14 has an arm 17 which is adapted to project under the bot tom 1 to support the bottom 1, while the fork 15 supports the top 2. As the crate rests on the ground or on other crates, the top 2 is held against inward collapsing by the lower tines of the forks 15 in addition to the hasp 10. In lifting the crate the bottom 1 is prevented from sagging out by the arms 17 and obviously the arms 17 are held up in position by reason of the lower tines of the forks 15 resting on the upper edges of the ends 3 and 4, and top 2. To enable the top 2 or bottom 1 to be swung on their hinges the spring latches 16 may be pressed up by the thumbs to disengage the upper tines of the forks 15, whereupon the forks may be turned out of engagement with the edges of the top, which at the same time turns the arms 17 out from under the bottom 1.

Section (4 comprises, as shown, a series of slats 18, the bottom slats being wider, which slats are rabbeted and fastened to a bar 19, the other ends of slats 18 being similarly fastened to a bar 19. The bar 15) is hinged by butts 20 to a corner post 2.1, which corner post is in turn hinged to the front 5 by a pintle 22, the bar 2] having notches, as shown in Fig. 1, which receive the slats 23 forming the front, and the pintle 22 passes through the ends of slats 23 and throughthe intervening IIO posts 21. Thus two corner posts 21 may be swung outward on their respective pintles 22 while the sections a b may swing out with the post 21, the pintle 22 being the fulcrum, or the sections a may be swung in on their hinges 20, the thickness of the posts 21 permitting the sections a to be folded flat against the inside of the front 5.

Each section b is similar to the section a, the section 6 being hinged to the section a on pintle 14;, but the rear edge of the section b, which edge is formed with a bar 2 1 similar to bar 19, is fastened in a different manner as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, there being hinged hasps 25 fastened to the inner face of the section I), the leaf 26 of each hasp passing out through a shallow notch in the edge of the section b, and being bent at right angles to lie against the end edge of the back 6.

The back 6 consists of slats which are fastened to a stationary corner post 27 and the leaf 26 rests against the corner post 27 as well as against the ends of the slats, the leaf 26 of the hasps being detachably retained by an eye 28 and a pin 29. By folding the top and bottom 2 against the front 5 and back 6, the ends 3 and 4 may be flexed inwardly to collapse the crate, and during this inward flexure of the ends the hasps 25 and hinges 2O perform similar functions, the hasps 25 permitting the sections 6 to be folded back fiat against the back 6, as well as the butts 20 permitting sections a to fold flat against the front 5.

If desired, section I) alone may be swung out like a door to open half of an end as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which case to permit of this, the pins 29 are removed which disengage leaves 26 from the back and allows the section b to be swung ou on pintle 14: as its fulcrum, section a re maining stationary.

If desired the entire end including both sections a and b may be swung out like a door, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which case, pins 29 are removed to detach leaves 26 from the back and by pulling on the section a the latter may be swung out on pintle 22, and carrying with it section b, and the two sections a and I) thus swing out together, and as they swing out the fork 15 and arm 17 are drawn out of engagement with the top 2 and bottom 1 respectively. If desired, before swinging out the end in this manner the fork 15 may be relieved from latch 16, although the fork will naturally slide out from under the latch 16 during this movement even if the latch 16 is not disenminor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What 1 claim is z- 1. A crate comprising a front and back, ends hinged to both front and back, each end comprising two sections hinged together, a bottom hinged to one of the first two members and a top hinged to the other member, and a revoluble bar forming a pintle common to both end sections, the bar having lateral extensions at its ends forming means of support for the bottom and top when said extensions are in engagement therewith, the upper lateral extension being forked to straddle the edge of the top.

2. A crate comprising a front and back, ends hinged to both front and back, each end comprising two sections hinged together, a bottom hinged to one of the first two members and a top hinged to the other member to swing inside or outside the crate, the top or bottom preventing the ends from folding inwardly when either the top or bottom is closed, a revoluble pintle on each end of the crate having lateral extensions at its ends forming means of support for the bottom and the top when said extensions are in engagement therewith, the upper lateral extension being forked to straddle the edge of the top, and allowing the top and bottom to be folded when the extensions are swung out of engagement with the top and bottom.

3. A crate comprising a front, a back, and ends, corner posts 21 hinged to the respective ends of said front, each end comprising two sections a and b hinged together at the middle to fold inwardly flat against each other, each section a being hinged to its adjacent post 21, a bottom for the crate, and a top therefor.

1. A crate comprising a front and a back, corner posts 21 hinged to the respective ends of said front, end sections a and b hinged together, each section a being hinged to its adjacent post 21, and hinge hasps 25 hinging and also detachably fastening an end section b to the back.

5. A crate comprising afront and back, end sfor the crate, each end comprising two sections a and b hinged together, means for connecting sections awith the front to enable said sections to be swung outside or inside, and hinge hasps detachably fastening a section b'to the back allowing a section b to be folded inside against the back or swung outside away from the back.

6. A crate comprising a front and back, ends for the crate, each end comprising two sections, means hinging a section of an end to the front to enable the section to be folded inside the crate, the other section of that end being hinged to its mate and having a detachable' and hinged connection with the back whereby that end section can be folded in to collapse the crate or the two sections can be swung out together like a door to open the entire end or to permit the back section alone to be swung out to open half the end.

7. A crate comprising a front and back, end sections hinged together, means hinging the sections to the front and back respectively to allow the end sections to fold inwardly, and to allow a section to be swung outside away from the back, a top hinged to one of the first two members to fold inside or outside the crate, and a bottom hinged to one of the first two members.

8. A crate comprising a front and back, end sections hinged together, means hinging the sections to the front and back respectively to allow the end sections to fold inwardly, and to allow a section to be swung away from the back, atop hinged to one of the first two members to fold inside or out side the crate, and a bottom hinged to one of 20 THOMAS G. WILSON.

In presence of- GEORGE 'l. .HACKLEY, F. A. lVIANSFIELD. 

